Are You Planning to Do Content Marketing in the New Year? Don’t.

So, the new year is rolling around again, and you might be thinking, of course I’m making plans for my business, and content marketing is part of the plan.

Stop right there.

That’s right. We said stop planning.

Stop planning, and start committing!

Remember last year when you planned to blog? Or how about the year you said, “I’m going to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google and Pinterest at least once a day”? What about those articles that never got written or the white paper draft that’s been needing editing for more than a year?

We’re not here to guilt you. We’ve been there! That’s how we know you don’t WANT to be there. It’s bad for your self-esteem, and it’s bad for your business. So, don’t let the new year fly by without you meeting your content goals. Here’s how to get it done.

Commit to Projects

Unless you have a team, you probably aren’t going to complete all the projects you’d like. Do yourself a favor. Instead of over-planning and not meeting any of your content marketing goals, commit to completing one large project or three small to medium sized projects. You can tell what those are in relationship to the size of your team and the number of hours you have to allocate, as well as how the project(s) fits with your other commitments. Some project management can help when it comes to producing things like eBooks or overhauling your website content. Take all that into consideration when choosing what project will take priority.

Commit to Channels

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is planning to post on multiple social media channels, blogs and forums without strategizing how that will get done. They end up posting a picture or an article here and there, but since they don’t know the channels very well or have not looked at how to maximize them, the business appears lost, at best. The rule of thumb is to pick two or three channels, learn about them and provide appropriate, quality content accordingly. For example, if you decide Twitter is where you need to be, then learn how to maximize character count and hashtags. If it’s Facebook, look at how to set up your business page so it’s attractive and functional. Whatever you decide on, do it, and do it well.

Commit to Frequency

This is the real killer, isn’t it? It’s easy to say, “I’m going to blog,” but how often are you willing to do it, or how often can you realistically make that happen? How about number of social posts per day? And what about the various steps you need to take to produce that book or website content? At a minimum, you’ll want to blog weekly, post on social media daily and send out newsletters monthly. You’ll want to work on that project several times a week to meet whatever deadline you’ve established. Create a calendar with dedicated times to make it all happen.

Commit to Yourself

This is the biggie. There’s a psychological part of commitment that makes us want to achieve. The idea of commitment can boost us up and make us feel strong. But when we can’t meet our commitments, we can end up feeling disappointed in ourselves and guilty. We feel like we failed, which (perversely) makes us want to run away from the commitment. So we give up. Then we feel worse, and our business suffers alongside us. So make the commitment, but do it knowing what you’re getting yourself into. Then don’t stop to think about whether you should work on your content. You’ve committed. Get it done.

You might be reading this and saying, “Okay, I got this.” And you probably do. But remember, you don’t have to go it alone. All Things Writing is here to help you meet your commitments to your content, your business and yourself. Give us a shout when you need some content development or marketing support. We’ve got the experienced copywriters, editors, graphic designers, web pros and others on hand to make you shine online and in print in the new year…and beyond.

All Things Writing is a full-service content development and content marketing company on a mission to help clients shine online and in print. Our clients are from the private, government and nonprofit sectors. Become one of those clients today, andstart aligning your content with success.

Erin Pittman, Lead Editor

A project manager, writer and editor, Erin Pittman has almost a decade of professional experience in both print and online materials. She holds a BA in English from Randolph-Macon College.
Her work has been featured in local and national publications, as well as on various local and national websites and blogs. Writing topics include marketing, personal finance, special needs, military, parenting, seniors, local events, real estate, service industries, business profiles and more.